An Evening in the Life of a Health Coach

What does a typical evening look like for you? Is it running children back and forth to practice, dance, gymnastics, etc.? Then trying to get dinner on the table in a timely manner, all while helping children with homework.
We all lead very busy lives, why not MAKE time for yourself each and every evening.
It is so important to take care of your body and yourself. There are so many ways to practice self-care. Believe me when I say, “self-care is not selfish!” It is a necessity. There are so many ways to practice self-care, but my evening routine helps me to make certain that I care for myself each and every day.
Here are the things that I do to not only practice self-care, but just to wind down from the day. They not only help me relax, but they ensure that I have a good night of sleep.

• Exercise: I have a Beachbody ® all access membership. I could easily go to the gym nightly, but with two little children at home, doing at home workouts make more sense for us. Plus, my husband and I can do them at the same time, which would never happen if we tried to go to the gym. We are also able to do these after the children are in bed. Another plus to these workouts is most of them are only 30 minutes long. We also try to go for a walk as a family each night, it does not need to be very long, usually just around the neighborhood, but it gets us all moving.
• After a good workout, I usually enjoy a quick shower. If I am feeling the need for a longer soak, I enjoy a detox bath. A detox bath is something I make sure to take once a week. When I take a detox bath, I add a mixture of bath salts, baking soda and lavender oil to the water. This helps me to relax and detox all in one bath. It smells wonderful and makes me feel great.
• Every single evening, the last drink I make sure I have is a soothing cup of herbal tea. I love a mixture of lavender and chamomile tea. Sometimes I add a little honey or lemon to my tea. Not only is this mixture soothing, but it calms me as well.
• I make sure to diffuse lavender oil in all the bedrooms every night. We have diffusers that have a very dim light, which is nice while trying to fall asleep, but it can also be turned off completely. Our diffusers, as do most, run for a 4-hour cycle, then they automatically shut off, usually by this time we are all asleep.
• Writing in my gratitude journal is something I try to do nightly. What better way to end your day than by reflecting back on all that you are grateful for.
• Reading a self-help book, or a book of any kind is something I enjoy doing. Our children read to us or are read to every night, it is just something we all enjoy. I only read maybe 30 minutes a night.
These next two things are just things that help me ensure a good night of sleep.
• Making sure I turn my phone off or put it on silent or simply just put it down. I try not to use my phone for at least an hour before bed. I know we all have to scroll through Facebook one last time, or check our Instagram or email account just one more time before bed, but really is there anything that important that cannot wait until morning?
• There are no TV’s in any of our bedrooms. We recently moved from Colorado to South Carolina, and in Colorado every bedroom had a tv in it, not that it was needed, it was just something we had always done. When we moved, all of our belongings were in storage for 3 months, and by the time we moved into our home, we didn’t even think about watching tv at night. My husband is someone who always used to need to have the tv before he went to sleep, thank fully he does not need that anymore. I enjoy just going to bed and falling asleep to silence.
The way that I do things nightly may not work for everyone, but feel free to give some or all of them a try and see how your evenings change for you.